State Secretary of Agriculture visits Washington County food bank
Greater Washington County Food Bank’s farm manager Morgan Livingston shows state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding raised vegetable beds on the Centerville property.
Katie Anderson/ Observer-Reporter
Greater Washington County Food Bank's farm manager, Morgan Livingston, shows state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding raised vegetable beds on the Centerville property.
Katie Anderson/Observer-Reporter
Greater Washington County Food Bank’s farm manager Morgan Livingston shows state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding space on the Centerville property where they plan to install a hydroponics program, which will allow them to produce large amounts of fruits and vegetables year round in repurposed shipping containers.
State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding made a stop in Washington County Wednesday morning to tour the Greater Washington County Food Bank, as part of the state’s Planting the Seed Tours program.
The food bank’s farm manager, Morgan Livingston, took Redding, along with several state and local officials and community partners, on a brief tour of the approximately 24 acres of property that the nonprofit is using for food production.
“It’s always great when we can get all of our partners in one room, or in this case under one tent, and update them on what we’re doing,” Livingston said. “It’s also great for the secretary to be able to come out here and see what we’re doing, because we’re hoping to be a model for other food banks.”
The tour started inside the facility at 909 National Pike West in Centerville, where shelves are stocked with food for county residents and families in need.
“It’s nice to start where we started, inside with the shelves full of food,” Redding said.
Then the tour moved outside, where some of that food is produced right there on the property.
“That’s unique,” Redding said. “What’s nice here is they’ve made a connection between that need for food distribution and food production.”
The farm has several vegetable garden beds, a fruit tree orchard and will soon also house a hydroponics program, which will allow them to produce large amounts of fruits and vegetables year round in repurposed shipping containers.
Livingston said a Neighborhood Assistance Program grant helped pay for the hydroponics program, as well as a planned aquaponics system that will allow them to raise fish. She said the shipping containers will be installed in the next few weeks, and she hopes they will be fully operational in December.
She said the food bank is also looking for grant money, including Local Share Account funding, to renovate an old barn on the property into an agriculture education center. She said the project will cost about $500,000, and when finished will have classrooms and multi-purpose space to host school field trips and other programs.
Redding said he was impressed with the food bank’s operation of the farm and the amount of community support it’s received.
“What is unique in Washington County is the direct partnership with the chamber of commerce … and also the intentional partnership with the high school,” he said. “To see them here in tandem with those other needs is important, and to have that level of support from the community for this project.”
The chamber’s president, Jeff Kotula, and Trinity Area School District Assistant Superintendent Don Snoke spoke to the crowd about partnering with the food bank. The chamber helps the food bank apply for grants and connect with the business community, while the school district produces and donates potatoes and lettuce.
“To me, this is what the food bank prototype should look like,” Snoke said.
Redding said the food bank’s “intersection” between producing its own food and distributing it to those in need will be key to reaching the community.
“It’s not simply satisfying today’s nutrition, but it’s about what you can do to plant those seeds for the future,” he said. “As you look at what you’re doing here, the core is around education. It’s also looking at what the needs of the community really are.”